Between Antisemitism and Activisim

Unlike the situation for Jewish students and faculty in the 1930s, the present-day situation reflects the ongoing battle between supporters of the state of Israel and anti-Zionist proponents of BDS. Since its founding in 2005, the supporters of BDS have argued that boycotts, divestment, and sanctions are legitimate methods for pressuring Israel and its supporters to grant statehood to the Palestinian people. Opponents of BDS, by contrast, have insisted that the movement is antisemitic, arguing that it seeks to undermine the State of Israel’s legitimacy and deny the Jewish people’s right to state sovereignty. 

Complicating the debate is both sides’ use of historically fraught rhetoric rooted in the Nazi experience. In recent years, and especially since October 7th, pro-Palestinian protesters have equated Zionism with Nazism and alleged that Israel is perpetrating crimes against the Palestinians that qualify as a present- day Holocaust. Meanwhile, some pro-Israel advocates have accused Palestinians and their supporters of being present-day Nazis. While historians have actively exposed the flaws of such polemical comparisons, they have failed to halt their spread. 

Given the polarized climate, it is not surprising that divisions have also shown up within the Jewish college community. On some campuses, Jewish students and faculty have supported the BDS movement by enlisting Jewish traditions, such as Shabbat services and Passover Seders, in support of the Palestinian cause. In response, Jewish critics have said such efforts do not reflect the larger Jewish community’s position on the Arab-Israel conflict. 

The spread of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric in campus protests has also forced Jewish students and faculty to rethink the line between free speech and hate speech. After Harvard President Claudine Gay failed to provide a clear answer to Congress in late 2023 about whether “calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment,” certain Jewish communal leaders called for including education about antisemitism in university DEI programs, while Jewish free speech advocates argued that campus speech codes were antithetical to liberal institutions like universities and should be abolished altogether. 

Today, Jewish faculty and students remain active in seeking solutions to the current crisis on college campuses. Some are serving on antisemitism task forces at universities like Harvard and Columbia and seeking to determine how campus protests can be regulated to ensure student safety while permitting room for free speech. Other Jewish faculty are taking on leadership roles at newly created institutes, such as NYU’s Center for the Study of Antisemitism and the University of Michigan’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute, to explore the roots of antisemitism and devise strategies for combating it. Whether these efforts will improve the climate on college campuses remains to be seen, but whatever the future holds, the historical record suggests that Jewish university students and faculty will continue to be shaped by the forces of antisemitism and activism.